This invention relates generally to integrated circuit manufacturing and specifically to packaging packaged integrated circuits in storage tubes.
The manufacturing of integrated circuits (ICs) is a very highly researched area and as a result, has become a very efficient and automated process with relatively little human interaction. This automation has led to lower costs for the manufacturer and better quality products for the consumer. Automation results in lower costs because machines typically work faster and with fewer errors when compared to humans. Additionally, machines can work longer and with fewer needed breaks.
Unfortunately, not all tasks involved in the manufacturing process have been amenable to being automated. For example, once the ICs have been packaged and tested, the ICs are commonly placed into plastic tubes for storage and shipping purposes. Machines have been designed to perform such packing operations, but they tend to be complex and are slow and sensitive to becoming misaligned. Human packing of the ICs, on the other hand, is tedious and slow. Finally, combining humans and large machinery can lead to serious operator injuries.
One proposed solution involves the combination of both machines and humans. The human operators load the plastic tubes into the machines and the machines, through large pinchers, remove a pin used to hold the ICs in the plastic tubes. The pin is sometimes referred to as a retention pin. With the pin removed, the ICs are loaded into the plastic tubes and the machine replaces the pin. Once the pin is replaced, the human operator removes the plastic tubes filled with ICs. The pinchers used to remove the pins are large pneumatic mechanisms that tend to become misaligned quite easily, resulting in incorrect re-placement of the pins and possible damage to the plastic tubes and the ICs. Whenever a problem arises, the machine has to be shut down and the problem cleared through human intervention. This can greatly reduce the efficiency of the entire process. Additionally, the large size of the pneumatic pinchers poses a real danger to the human operators when the operators are loading and removing the plastic tubes from the machines.
A need has therefore arisen for machinery that can maximize automation of the IC packing process and at the same time minimize the threat of physical injury to their human operators.
In one aspect, the present invention provides a method for loading integrated-circuits (IC) into a tube comprising the steps of moving a first ram to partially push out a retention pin located at one end of the tube, moving the retention pin to a second position, holding the retention pin in the second position, inserting a desired number of ICs into the tube, and moving a second ram to push the retention pin back into the tube.
In another aspect, the present invention provides a method for removing and inserting a retention pin in a tube comprising the steps of moving a first ram to partially push out a retention pin located at one end of the tube, moving the retention pin to a second position, holding the retention pin in the second position, moving a second ram to push the retention pin back into the tube.
In yet another aspect, the present invention provides a device comprising an air inlet to provide a pressurized flow of air, an air chamber coupled to the air inlet, the air chamber to allow the pressurized flow of air to move a retention pin, a first ram arranged at one side of the air chamber and movable along one axis, the first ram to partially push out the retention pin located at one end of a tube and into the air chamber, and a second ram arranged on an opposite side of the air chamber with respect to the first ram and movable along one axis, the second ram to push the retention pin back into the tube.
The present invention provides a number of advantages. For example, use of a preferred embodiment of the present invention minimizes human involvement in the packing of ICs into plastic storage and shipping tubes. This increases efficiency and minimizes costs.
Also, use of a preferred embodiment of the present invention permits ready retrofitting of IC packing machinery, minimizing the required investment of the IC manufacturer in new IC packing machinery.
Additionally, use of a preferred embodiment of the present invention allows a human operator to control a larger number of packing machines, increasing the efficiency of the human operator and decreasing operation costs.